Usain Bolt: Showman Strikes Again In Beijing

So now we know: the way to bring down Usain Bolt is to blindside him with a Segway.

Even then it was too late. By the time a cameraman chasing the great champion had clipped his winged heels and sent them both to the deck, Bolt was halfway round his lap of honour and his latest line-up of victims trudging out of the stadium with their spikes slung round their necks.

The 100m final had been close. Only one hundredth of a second had separated Bolt and his rival, Justin Gatlin, on Sunday night, even if a chasm opened up between them in the aftermath.

This 200m showdown, the rematch, the chance for Gatlin to gain revenge and a little glory after all the controversy and carping of the last seven days?

This one was over in less than two-hundredths of a second. Bolt’s reaction time from his blocks was 0.147 seconds. Gatlin’s was 0.161. The gap between them would only grow.

For a man who has so regularly made the impossible real, Bolt’s victories can also seem pre-ordained and predictable within moments of him hurtling alone through the line.

He is almost a victim of his own brilliance. There seems no room for doubt, even if it was an unacknowledged guest in minds around the world before he settled into his blocks.